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Emails obtained by Radio-Canada show staff in the office of Senator Colin Kenny taking care of the senator's personal affairs as far back as 2005. Kenny has been criticized by the federal auditor general for using Senate staff for non-Senate business.

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Emails show Senate staff organizing home renos and taking care of senator's tanning salon business

Emails show Senate staff organizing home renos and taking care of senator's tanning salon business 2:02

A Liberal senator is facing new questions about his use of Senate resources for personal business.

The CBC's French-language service, Radio-Canada, has obtained emails showing that as far back as 2005 Senator Colin Kenny had staff from his office organizing renovations to his home and taking care of business at a tanning salon he once owned.

In one email from 2005, a Senate staffer offers Kenny an update on work being done at his residence.

In his report, Michael Ferguson found "the senator paid salaries and benefit expenses to staff for work that may not have been for parliamentary business."

Ferguson stated, "We found that staff performed numerous tasks that were not related to regular office operations, but instead to the Senator's personal activities. These tasks included payments of personal invoices, maintenance of personal books and records, planning of various personal activities, and scheduling of personal appointments."

Pursued own agenda, arbiter finds

Binnie focused on Kenny's travel, saying some of the trips he took were not for parliamentary business but rather for personal activities.

Former Supreme Court justice Ian Binnie, appointed by the Senate to review the findings of Auditor General Michael Ferguson, found that some of the trips billed by Senator Colin Kenny were of a personal nature. (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)

"There is an artificiality about many of those trips," Binnie said. "He essentially made and pursued his own Senate agenda at public expense."